[Australian]

Today I downloaded the free app from Android Market, "ACCleaner".

One of it's primary functions is to clear the device's cache of built up data, images etc, which limits the amount of storage your device has left.

This information is not necessary for the operation of the device, and not being very knowledgeable about such things, I wonder why a phone would have a cache? I think the concept is that quicker access can be had to things previously looked at, - but I might be wrong.

Anyhow, this app lists all the apps on your device, showing how much data each app has stored in cache. Some store a lot, others none.

One tap on the word "Delete" clears all the cache. Another app I have tests all the apps downloaded for malware, and it advises this app. is clean.

If you have a look at all the reviews from users, they will attest this is a great app, providing their devices with extra storage by clearing out the junk.

[topdog]

The cache will be used by some apps for things like your preferences data. You can manually clear the cache from specific apps as is, I'd be wary of using such a thing globally over all my apps. It isn't just traditional cache data for offline/local use afaik.

[Australian]

I have only used it once, and I can't recall, but it is likely you can decide what you want to save.

But seeing all the endorsements from other users, there doesn't seem to be any who have experienced problems.

I have an app that on every use generates a new Bible verse, and then stores the ones it has generated in a list, for review, if one wishes.

I was expecting the list to have disappeared, - but no, it was still intact.

[topdog]

I didn't have my phone with me at the time but just checked the manage apps panel, and cache is separate from app data. So should be good, as the preferences type information is usually put in the app data store instead, I made the mistake of thinking in my head that it was that data which it was cleaning.

Most apps don't seem to use cache data by the look of it (even if I thought they might); when you go to Manage Apps and sort by size, the size includes cache information and the first one I found using Cache was the Market (4.87MB total for the app, 1.96MB is cache).

The next was Youtube with about the same amount cached.

So I'd probably want to clear that cache, if it looked like it was being a problem (only 2MB out of 3.5MB), but I wonder what data it clears from the Market app. Maybe nothing useful.